Do you have any yoyos with stories attached to them? Or that have special meaning to you?

I own a lot of yoyos. And I’ve been playing a lot of them lately in anticipation of my year long fixed axle challenge. As I’ve been playing through my yoyos, I’ve been reminiscing about where each came from, but also thinking about how even though most of the yoyos in my collection have at least some story behind them, I don’t feel particularly connected to all of them.

I’ve had this back and forth for a long time about whether I’d enjoy having fewer yoyos than I do. Sometimes I really enjoy the variety, but sometimes I think that if I had just a few I’d appreciate them more because then each would feel special. So in the past I’ve gone through selling frenzies where I’ve made efforts to downsize my collection, and I had started to feel like I had a reasonable number until this past week as I was going through them all. :

mgodinez has a Dif-e-Yo Barebones that has been his main player since 2005. I think that’s really rad. It’s traveled all over the place with him, and he really knows that yoyo. And honestly, I’m a little jealous that I don’t have a yoyo that I’ve bonded with for that length of time. There’s a few that I do feel quite connected to, though, and they make me smile.

These Code2s are an example. The Code2 design went through a community testing period. One Drop sent out a number of tester Code2s, three of which circulated to members of the community who were interested in testing it and giving feedback. Each of the community testers kept the tester unit for about a week before mailing it to the next tester. Jason Wong, who is incredibly generous and an all around awesome guy, anodized one of the tester units that circulated (the “Silver Skittles” – the top one in the picture). So the folks who tested that one got the extra treat of getting to enjoy some of his phenomenal anodization work in person. It really is incredible work. Sometime after the Code2 went to production, Jason offered to anodize another one for me in whatever colorway I wanted. I’d always loved his original “Skittles” colorway (the bottom yoyo in the pic), so I went with that. I think they make a beautiful pair. I play them a fair bit, and every time I do, I remember the excitement of the testing process and Jason’s generosity. I think it’s pretty cool to have stuff like that in my life.

Anywho, do you have yoyos with stories, people, etc. that you associate with them? Let’s hear some of them and see some pics!

The Duncan I still play regularly as a fixed axle and the Essence was my first General-Yo over a year ago. It means a lot though because I traded it within a month of getting it and regretted that trade ever since. But, about a year later, I met the same really nice guy at the Redondo Beach yoyo contest and he actually traded it back to me! Such a good day…

Also my Chief, which got stolen, dinged up a bit, but eventually found its way back to me. Long story.

I still have the sides from my first yoyo the 2011 Yomega dash… it is a very sentimental yoyo so when i came across a kid playing one Saturday i just had to throw it some he had no idea how to really use the thing he had picked it up from a garage sale and thought it was cool.

I remember how my parents balked at spending 11 bucks on a yoyo… four years later i’m spending one- hundred bucks and more for throws. An interesting turn of events don’t ya think.

Some of my favorite yoyos represent humility to me. I won’t say that I won’t get rid of them because I often go through periods of pruning in my life where I remove physical distractions. They remind me when I pick them up or look at them. I was resistant to certain ideas and changes, yet found myself changing regardless. Now that the change has happened, it is embraced. The symbolism goes far beyond that in how it relates to my life, but that is the basic structure at least regarding the change that yoyo has been a part of.

My collection is primarily wooden fixies (20), 4 metals, and a few plastics.

My Chief, because I was so critical of it at first. Became one of my favorites.
My Classic, because I long hated plastics.
My wood fixed axle yoyos because for a while I never believed they could ever be useable, never mind fun, for me.

When I started back into yoyoing at the beginning of this year, I had no idea how far is had progressed. The last yoyo I owned was probably 15-17 years ago. It was a transaxle with ball bearings in the rims for longer spin times. Since then, I’ve progressed at a rate which I didn’t think was possible, though I’ve got a long way to go.

Recently I bought a Red Horizon on the BST from what I thought was just another normal dude just like me. The package got sent out a day late, and I got a message from the guy, something along the lines of, “I threw a signed card in there for you. Sorry for the lateness.” I was excited when I got the package in the mail from John Narum, and surprised when I opened the package to what I was (pic below).

Since then, I’ve become a huge fan of his and am currently waiting on a regular production as well as a pre-production prototype (he used at worlds) of the Equinox that I recently purchased from him. These three yoyos are the gems of my collection. I strap on my horizon when going everywhere, including work.

My 07 888 is the yo-yo I probably love the most, it’s really the only high-end that I kept from before Dave’s store closed. My Team Losi Da Bomb is pretty special as it was my first bearing yo-yo.

Moving up to recent acquisitions I think my most meaningful is the Valor that David at One Drop sent me when they became the first Museum sponsor - it gave me hope that the Museum would be able to live on, that people really did care about what we did with that site.

I would have to say my YYF Aviator. I have had it since early april, and it is NEVER leaving me. it is my favorite yoyo sentimentally, because it was what I used for Kansas States 2014, my first (and most likely only) state title.

I have an attachment to my sturm panzer stealth ogre. It cost me $183 (including shipping) and it was kind of the point where I decided I was committed to yoyoing and it wasn’t just a phase. Also, it is still the most I have ever payed for a yoyo.

Now I’ve had it for almost a year and a half and I still play it nearly every day.

Instant friends; no doubt. The guy was Krazy… So he hasn’t changed much, lol.

I remember back at Worlds in 1999; he wanted to go onstage and give a Demonstration of some very cutting edge tricks he go had come up with. He paced around and paced around(Mohawk and all); and then found out they would not allow him some stage time(for whatever reason?). Boy, was he not a happy camper. But as we all found out; his determination to help change things; was not about to be stopped by a fork in the road, here and there. Turned out his hard head actually protected some pretty intense brain matter.

Moving ahead; when he was with Duncan; they came out with the MG Yoyo. Steve got one of the very first Silver MG yoyos. He took that Yoyo all over the place; in his Travels. Different States, different Countries.
And fearing nothing; the Yoyo met the ground in different States and in different Countries.

He never deliberately beat it; it just took some hits; accidentally over the years, lol.

I asked him, years ago, ‘Steve; when you finally decide to retire that MG; you can send it to me’.

Several years ago; I got a box in the mail. Nothing notable. Just a plain brown box. It had some spare parts, he figured I could use for my modding projects.(I used to try fixing yoyos a long time ago).

Mixed with the misc., Yoyo parts; was a Yoyo wrapped in a piece of soft cloth.

It was his Duncan MG.

No added message. No mention of it. Just a chip off the ole Legend.

The Coolest Yoyo gift I have ever gotten, ever.

This MG has done tricks I will never do. And has been places I will never go. It’s not just a Yoyo; but a Yoyo with an adventurous past. To me, it doesn’t have a dollar value. It has a history that you can’t put a price on.

I have hundreds of yoyos. I misplace them all the time. I don’t have a very sofisticated filing system.

But I Always know Exactly where my Silver MG is. It is my most special Yoyo, no doubt.

That’s a seriously great story behind that MG. This thread is bringing the nostalgia in a large way.

For me my most meaningful yoyo would be my Doomsday Genesis. I wanted one the second I saw it,
I would pine after it day after day watching the stock go down but my brother would always convince me that the yoyos I had were enough and that I didn’t need it (he gave a convincing argument).

Anyway, it turns out this was all an elaborate ruse, as a week or two later, a package arrives at my door from him and what’s inside? A brand new Doomsday Genesis.

I flipping love that yoyo. One of my favourite throws of all time, it’s the only yoyo I treat with genuine care and look after. My bro is my best mate, so a gift from him is going to be hard to beat.

In second place would probably be my General Yo Amplitude. Armani (sponsored by Gen Yo) was competing at UK nationals this year but discovered when he got there that he had forgotten the Amplitude he wanted to compete with. Fortunately, I had just purchased one so I lent him mine to perform with… and perform he did, taking second place with a fantastic freestyle.

Anyway, the fact that he was so happy with his result and the fact that he did so well gives this little purple Amplitude a pretty cool back story.

Not exactly the same level as some of your stories, but then I’ve only been throwing for like a year and a half…

my first tom kuhn no jive. just a stock one i bought from dave’s skill toys a long time ago. i always come back to it. it’s the yo-yo that made me fall in love with fixed axle (and wood, specifically). i’ve hit some hard tricks on it and pushed myself through more imaginary barriers on it than i have with any other yo-yo.

clean machine no jive i received as a gift from jason tracy. probably my best-playing no jive. i’ve taken it all over the place and enjoyed watching tons of good friends hit great stuff on it. playing it taught me that stuff like kamikaze, red clover, suicides, and lacerations weren’t impossible on fixed axle. also learned lunar landing with it, which may be my favorite trick.

spyy ‘eh’. the fixed axle yo-yo i used for a year straight. probably safe to say i have more hours on that yo-yo than all my others combined, and the most influential to how i currently play. won the 2012 fixed axle championship of all the world on it, too. also represents a great gift from steve from spyy in supporting me on that crazy idea.

midnight special. though this isn’t the original, the midnight special was my first yo-yo (kind of - i traded an early run yomega brain for it). i learned gravity pull, forward pass, and around the world with it. when i broke it, i just bought another one like it and kept doing that for as long as i could find midnight specials in stores. i didn’t “get good” with it, but i learned to ENJOY yo-yoing with it, which was way more valuable.

thp raider. my first bearing yo-yo, given to me by my campers luke and sean at the end of their ymca camp session in 1998. learned split the atom, barrel rolls, hydrogen bomb on it. had it in my pocket when i asked my wife to marry me (wasn’t why she said yes, i think).

custom mag. at $40 i thought this yo-yo was a ludicrous expense when i bought it in 1999. thought it was cooler than either the cold fusion or sb-2 though. beefcaked, i can still hit pretty much anything on it (except maybe fingerspins lol… ouch). this was my favorite yo-yo for the 4 years or so following the late 90’s boom.

superyo renegade. initially bought this one on a lark because it came with a spare string which i wanted for my mag which i kept in my teacher-desk. ended up being a WAY better player once it broke in. later, i learned all the escolar/longoria canon on it and still love it to death.

I have a Yomega Glide that I bought before a trip to Disney and got it the day I got back (I believe) with a CZM8. It was late at night so I didn’t get to throw it, just look at it for the time being. Morning came along and I threw it and it had slight vibe to it, a dent, and some ano flaws around the hub. I asked YYE and they said it was weird but I could send it to them. I sent it to them and they sent me a brand new one that had been looked out to make sure it was perfect. It was. So, technically, it’s my second Glide. It’s the same color and dead smooth. It’s on my BST if anybody wants to offer on it.
Thank you YYE! You guys are awesome.

I have a 3yo3 Al5 that was given to me by Landon Balk himself. It has it’s own special case because of how important it is to me. Landon had a contest recently to create a new logo. The members of YYE and facebook voted and I was amazed to find that I won. So starting with the Al5, Landon began using the logo that I created on his yoyos. It’s also on the new Bassline 2, but that Al5 will always be a truly special yoyo to me.

Thanks, Stickman.
You’re not alone on that observation. However, I’m not really sure if that says something about the logo or the person observing the logo.
Either way, it’s nice seeing Landon’s beautiful work adorned with it. Makes me feel like I’ll always be part of the yoyo world in some way, even if I’m still a very average yoyoer (yoyoist? yoyo-ite?)

My red imperial, kindergarten on for several years. Loved that thing even though getting it to work was a mystery of sorts. Inconsistency, knots, and used it as an outlet for a little guys imagination. I broke the figurine on Ms. Marcy’s (1st grade teacher) desk and tipped her coffee over with that yoyo as well as flying it across the yard and breaking the neighbor’s window. I even used it as a skipping stone across small bodies of water and of course, on occasion it was a ninja star. I still play it occasionally.

I have many other’s that are special in similar ways. I think it’s so many special memories that motivate me to keep playing for I know that there are many more special moments to come from this awesome toy.